Reports and observations about life as an ex-pat family in Playa del Carmen Mexico from Michele and Rob Kinnon. Real Estate Playa del Carmen market updates and new listings of interest. Advise for other like minded adventurers planning to relocate to Playa del Carmen. Will include commentary and information on local schools, markets, recycling, environmental issues, volunteer opportunities, restaurant reviews and special events.

It seems more and more people are finding their way to our Riviera Maya Events Calendar since we first rolled it out on our website in October of 2011. While getting off to a slow start, traffic to the calendar has quadrupled in the past year and we are getting really good feedback from people....lots of nice compliments and some good constructive criticism, which I am hoping to address with this update. Read More...

Greetings from sunny Playa del Carmen!! Once again, our little blog "Life's a Beach" was nominated for the About.com Readers Choice Award for Favorite Mexico Blog. I just found out that I am now a finalist. Huzzah!! But wait...it get's even better! "Life's a Beach" blog was not the only nod toward the Riviera Maya! Read More...

Greeting to all "Life's a Beach" readers! This blog was recently nominated for the About.com Readers Choice Award for Favorite Mexico Blog of 2012. I just found out that "Life's Beach" is now a finalist! We are in the company of some excellent blogs, so this is quite an honor.
Read More...

"Accomplished: A room full of people who are passionate about tourism and social media."
So tweeted Arianna Bañuelos from her @AryCancun twitter account at the close of the first ever Social Media Boot Camp for Riviera Maya Tourism. Looking around the room, I see people putting the finishing touches on their notes, asking questions, exchanging email address and twitter handles. Each one of them looks tired but happy. I have come away with a notebook full of information, cemented some friendships and made new relationships with smart motivated people working in this region. We all represent different industries and interests but each of shares the desire to promote Riviera Maya as a destination and increase commerce within the region. We also seem to share a passion for learning and a willingness to share our collective knowledge and experiences. Read More...

Wow. Just wow! I knew I was going to come away with some good info when I registered for Kay Walten's Social Media Boot Camp for Tourism but after reviewing more than 10 pages of notes I am seriously appreciating the value of the information she is sharing with us. For those of you who don't know her, Kay Walten and her husband Gary came to the Riviera Maya way back in the late 1980's, when the area of pristine beaches and jungle south of Cancun was referred to, unceremoniously, as the Cancun-Tulum corridor. Read More...

After the fabulous tequila tasting and dinner at Hacienda Tres Rios, Kay Walten (www.Locogringo.com) and I shuttled the group downtown for a short tour of a few of the Playa del Carmen restaurants and bars participating in the Taste of Playa 2010 culinary event. Read More...

The highlight of my evening at Hacienda Tres Rios, aside from meeting all the great travel writers and bloggers, was the informative tequila seminar and tasting presented by Chef Oscar. Because, I have the good fortune to live in Mexico where I have access to a plethora of fine tequilas, you might think that this would be "old hat" for me. Not so! There is much to learn about Mexico's signature beverage! Read More...

Remember when we were kids and we had pen pals? Remember waiting for the mail everyday to see if you had received a letter from your friend from afar? Well it's still going on today, only now, we don't put pen to paper and enclose Polaroids. Now we make friends on Facebook and Twitter. Pen pals have gone high tech! We follow each others blogs via RSS feeds. We "Like" each other on Facebook and "Re-tweet" each others Tweets. When we were kids, we carried on with the understanding that there was precious little chance that you would ever actually meet your "pal" in France, or South Africa or New Zealand. Read More...

Mark your calendars! The Third Annual Latin American Bloggers’ Conference will be held in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico from Friday Nov. 12 – Sunday Nov. 14, 2010. The event is open to all Bloggers but in order for us to get ready, it will be necessary Read More...

Blissfully hangover free, I met up with the Tacos , Cindy and other assorted bloggers for another hearty breakfast at Estel's. My brother in law, Dave, another early riser, joined our group as we soaked up some sun and made plans for the remainder Read More...

Not surprisingly, our first full day on the island was a lazy one. The kids were sent off on a fishing excursion and the grownups recovered from the night before. Breakfast and Bloody Mary's at Estel's , our favorite place in San Pedro, brought Read More...

On October 15, 2008 thousands of bloggers across the globe will take to their keyboards and join in an online revolution: to open up a global dialogue about poverty. There is not one of us who has not witnessed or been touched by poverty in some way. Read More...

Day two of the Blogger Blowout was a hot one, much to the chagrin of us bloggers, each wearing varying shades of HUNGOVER! After a quick latte at Aluxes, we slowly piled into our carts and headed out across the island for a bit of good old-fashioned sight-seeing. Read More...

This weekend Rob and I and the kiddos traveled to Isla Mujeres for the very 1st Latin America Bloggers Convention or, as it has now been more appropriately dubbed, "The Blogger Blowout"! Our fearless leader, Wayne, aka "Isla Gringo", Read More...